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The new product process is often plagued by delays, cost overruns, products which don't sell well, and a state of near battle between marketers and R&D groups. These problems are being attacked by a wide variety of new management practices today. For example, we have recently seen better statements of strategy, smaller less bureaucratic organization forms, mathematical models for economic evaluation, and post‐launch tracking and control systems. One area of concern has been slow to respond—the communication of direction to R&D. This paper speaks to the communication problem by proposing a concept called “protocol.” The concept is explained, and its usefulness and difficulties are discussed. This article tells why something like a protocol is needed, and points out the problems in its development and use.
Claire Crawford (Sun,) studied this question.